Connecting blocks are often used in telephone central offices, building entrance terminals, and outside plant cabinets for electrical connection between cables and cross-connect wiring. Prior art connecting blocks include rows of insulation displacement contacts mounted within a plastic housing. The housing provides access to the insulation displacement contacts which may include one or two insulation piercing slots. In practice, one set of wires is placed within a separate wire indexing strip to align the cable leads on one side of the connector. The contact module is then placed over the strip to terminate the wires.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,587, issued to Ellis, Jr., et al.; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,171,857 and 4,283,103, both issued to Forberg, et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,689 issued to Baggeft, et al., all disclose IDC connector blocks that may be used in connection with the interconnection of cables and cross-connect wiring. In particular, Baggett, et al., disclose a ZIDC connector module having insulation displacement terminals and internal dual normally closed contacts, adapted for access by test cords and/or protector units, on both sides of the module, and on both sides of the cross-connect facility. Often, telephone central offices, building entrances terminals, and outside plant cabinets only require dual normally closed contacts for access by test cords on one side of the connector module. It has been discovered that by eliminating this feature on one side of the connection module, the size and cost can be reduced and/or the termination density can be increased.
There is a need for a high density ZIDC connector module that provides insulation displacing contact terminations, but without a normally closed contact thereby reducing the size of the connector, while also not requiring separate wire strips to align cable leads on one side of the connector. Additionally, this need must be satisfied without a need to retrofit current wire insertion tooling already in the field.